His Ghana team-mate and ageing Chelsea superstar Michael Essien was part of a wild-fire wishful thinking rumour in January and briefly odds-on favourite to sign for Boro on those strange rumour-mill betting markets that measure gullibility rather than any likelihood.

Aitor Karanka was forced to laugh off the rumour and admit that he would drive to London to pick him up if there was even the remotest chance of it happening.

Meanwhile on the United States side there are former targets Michael Bradley and DaMarcus Beasley.

The pair - plus then US team mate Oguchi Onyewu - were heavily linked during the 2006 World Cup.

Bradley was deep in talks while the Gooch got as far as visiting Rockcliffe with his entourage and was almost Gareth Southgate’s first signing but instead opted for a bumper new deal at Standard Liege and later turned out for Milan, Sporting and, er, Sheffield Wednesday.

“Run DMB” had initial talks with Boro but opted for a loan spell at Manchester CIty instead then later, after Southgate had another nibble, moved to Rangers.

Before that game Germany face Portugal with wistful eyes on Teutonic schemer Bastian Schweinsteiger, a £4m target for Steve McClaren when he was a teenager in Bayern reserves.